Court-Martial Trial Practice

THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 20, 2017 *Statement Regarding Military Justice*

Trial and appellate lawyers often need to interpret what a statute means and how it applies to their case. “There are some great Supreme Court cases on statutory interpretation, including the famous discussion regarding whether a tomato is a fruit.” Says Prof. Tessa Dysart on Appellate Advocacy Blog. She is referring to Nix v. Hedden,…

On 12 October 2017, the CAAF granted petitions worthy of watching: No. 17-0556/AR. U.S. v. Joseph R. Armstrong. CCA 20150424. On consideration of the petition for grant of review of the decision of the United States Army Court of Criminal Appeals, it is ordered that said petition is hereby granted on the following issue: WHETHER…

At SimpleJustice blog (a blog worth following) there is a piece about Judge Kopf and a tweet which leads to a discussion of a prosecutors obligation to provide discovery to the defense. Let me start with some basics and two cases that prosecutors and defense lawyers know (or should know) well. In Brady v. Maryland,…

It is common to obtain character and rehabilitation letters for a service-member at trial. There is an art to getting and using good letters. Rule 1, don’t have a letter (or testimony) in which the writer impeaches the verdict. “This is out of character,” or something to that effect is much better and won’t draw…

Yes, it is. In dissenting to the Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals majority opinion in United States v. Decker, the dissenting judge says: This is a vexing case; the kind that sexual assault prevention training seeks to avoid. I agree with the majority’s resolution of Assignment of Error III, and I agree that the…

United States v. Campbell, decided by the Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals (9/17), presents a current look at United States v. Terlap and proper sentencing evidence. The Appellant “that the military judge admitted improper evidence in aggravation and testimony contradictory to the stipulation of fact.” During presentencing testimony, the military judge asked BI, “You…

Crowder’s next orders took him to Fort Yates, North Dakota, where the United States Army attempted to suppress the religious Ghost Dance movement. While stationed at Fort Yates, Crowder proved successful in his legal defense in three court-martial proceedings. His actions were noted by Army superiors and after being promoted to the rank of captain,…

https://www.court-martial.com/dubay-evidentiary-hearings-on-appeal.html

Whether or not a sentence is appropriate for the crime convicted of and the character of the person convicted is a frequent issue on appeal. Less frequently there is an issue of sentence disparity between co-actors or co-accuseds. The recent ACCA decision in United States v. Martinez (Sept. 2017), lays out the law fairly well…